TGV/MGV - Lesson 6
Ba-|Iyi-Gol-Vuhlkansu - Tupa 6

PUNCTUATION
Pehkamitaya

In this lesson, we cover each common Golic Vulcan punctuation mark and provide examples of its use with FSE translations. There are no exercises with this lesson.

As we'll see, Golic Vulcan sentence construction is different from that of FSE. Despite the differences, Golic Vulcan has a number of punctuation marks equivalent to those used in FSE. Listed below are all of the punctuation marks used in Traditional and Modern Golic Vulcan. For clarity, examples of use are provided where necessary.


" - " PAKH (stroke)

A very common mark used in affixing or compounding words, weak verbs, and in a sentence as a comma or semi-colon is used in FSE. Also exists in borrowed or ancient words that were originally affixed or compounded but no longer have a separate meaning.

1. In suffixes: kan-fam or pthak-bosh.
2. In compound words: esh-tukh or yokul-mev.
3. In weak verbs: fal-tor or vin-tor.
4. In ancient or borrowed words: fah-yat or rau-nol.
5. As a comma: Vesht gla-tor Sonok kus-vakh - dunap - ha'fek heh math (Sonok saw a bell, book, candle and plate), etc.
6. As a semicolon: Ma sa-kan dukal heh kep - ko-kan mokuv heh leitri (The boy owns a ball and a gong; the girl a ring and a toy), etc.


" – " or " -- " DAH-PAKH (double-stroke)

Used as a colon or dash is used in FSE.

1. As a colon: Nam-tor la reh Vuhlkansu – Sarek - Spohkh heh Saavik (There are three Vulcans here: Sarek, Spock and Saavik), etc.
2. As a dash: ozhika - fai-tukh heh kenan – nam-tor u'vellar etek saven-tor (Logic, knowledge and understanding–these are the things we teach), etc.


" — " or " --- " EK'PAKH (full-stroke)

Used instead of the dah-pakh in classical literature, such as the works of Surak and T'Plana-Hath, and the majority of other religious and philosophical works. It has been superceded in most modern usage by the dah-pakh for typographic reasons, due to popularity of the media script. Also, equivalent to the ellipsis (... or ....) in FSE usage.

1. Instead of the dah-pakh in literature: >Ma etek natyan — teretuhr lau etek shetau weh-lo'uk do tum t'on.< ("We have differences. May we, together, become greater than the sum of both of us."—Surak)
2. As an ellipsis: >Tishau etek — nam-tor ish — kuv ri pohkau du —< ("We'd like to . . . that is . . . if you don't mind . . .")


" = " DAHSHAYA-PAKH (separation-stroke)

Used as a swung dash (~) or word-splitting hyphen (-) is used in FSE.

1. Used as a swung dash is used in FSE to show a word root that is directly affixed. It does not appear in the affixed word. For example, ma= (very, etc.) + suk (big) = masuk (very big). [In our lessons and affixes pages, we use the swung dash (~) because it is readily understood for students but remember it is the FSE symbol and Golic speakers use the = in their actual writing.]
2. Used as a "word-splitting" hyphen is used in FSE to show a word that is too long to find on a line of text, so has been split and continues on the next line. It almost never appears in printed text but is relatively common in handwritten text. Words are split at a root boundary.


" ' " ULEF-PEKHAYA (half-stop)

A common mark used to separate affixes from root words. Also exists in some borrowed or ancient words that were once affixed or compounded but no longer have a separate meaning.

1. In prefixes: t'kau or svi'nahr.
2. In suffixes: hokni'es or pla'rak.
3. In ancient or borrowed words: vo'ekti.
4. In many Vulcan female names: T'Pau or T'Sai. (From an ancient prefix that now has no separate meaning.)
5. In mathematics, used as the decimal point is used in FSE.


" . " EK'PEKHAYA (full-stop)

Used as a period is used in FSE.

" .. " DAH-PEKHAYA (double-stop)

Used for emphasis and in imperatives; equivalent to an exclamation point in FSE. It is used sparingly by most modern Vulcans due to the fact that it evokes emotional displays. For example, the dialogue of Vulcan characters in a story would practically never contain dah-pehkaya, while the dialogue of non-Vulcans certainly could.

1. In exclamations: Sarlah wuh le-matya.. (There is a le-matya coming!)
2. In imperatives: Ikap'uh svep.. (Close the door!)


" ... " REH-PEKHAYA (triple-stop)

Used for greater emphasis than the dah-pehkaya, similar to multiple exclamation points in FSE.

Tuhsau Rihansular Ta'raf-Shal... (The Romulans are crossing the Neutral Zone!!!)


" ¦ ¦ " TRESH-NENTULAR (split-frames)

Used for emphasis, like bolding or capitals in FSE. For example, Nam-tor ish ¦suk¦ sehlat.. (That's a BIG sehlat!)


" | " ABU-PAKH (up-stroke)

1. Used as a virgule (/) is used in FSE. (But the structure "and/or" in FSE is rendered as "il-eh" in Golic Vulcan.)

Orenal T'Luki terrupik wak-krus 1999|2000 (T'Luki studied the Earth period 1999/2000).

2. Used in mathematical fractions. For example, 7¾ in FSE would be 7-3|4 in Golic Vulcan.


" | | " TUHSK-NENTULAR (comment frames) or WUH-NENTULAR (single frames)

1. Used as parentheses are used in FSE for uses other than shown above.

Dungi nam-tor keh os-yel-hali | ek s'kadvin | moguhshau [Four old starships (all out of commission) will be scrapped].

2. Used as parentheses are used in FSE to show something is optional or a variation, such as truhk|-zehl|, or in a dictionary to show punctuation that may or may not be used, depending usage, such as pen|-| (pen is the standalone form and pen- is the combining form).


" || || " DAH-NENTULAR (double frames)

Used as brackets are used in FSE.

Vesht sarlah nemut | Kardassular || il sos'eh Dzhem-Hadaru || | (The enemy (the Cardassians [or perhaps the Jem-Hadar]) arrived).


" > < " STARUN-NENTULAR (speech frames)

Used as quotation marks (double quotes) are used in FSE.

Vesht tar-tor Surak >Nam-tor ri thrap wilat nem-tor rim<. (Surak said, "There is no offense where none is taken.")


" ° " AHM-SEHTEBIHK (name symbol)

Looks like Terran degree symbol. Used as italics are used with names and titles in FSE.


" Ϟ " HEH-SEHTEBIHK (and symbol)

Looks like a circle with a vertical line descending from it. In MGV, used as an ampersand is used in FSE. (It is never used in TGV, except when referring to a title or name which uses the symbol. It varies in use by the writer or source material.)

Vesht telv-tor nash-veh dunap °Dor Ϟ Gu-Vam°. (I read the book Honor & Duty.)


" ¯ " SHIYU-SEHTEBIHK (degree symbol)

Looks like the "macron" symbol (a superscript line). In MGV, used as the degree symbol is used in FSE. (It is never used in TGV.)

Nam-tor falek'es 45¯. (The temperature is 45º.)


" " NU-KLITON (down-arrow)

Looks like a down-pointing arrow. In TGV and MGV, used as the asterisk is used in FSE with a bottom-of-the-page note.


" " DAH-PRAL (double-wave)

Looks like a pair of wavy lines. In TGV and MGV, used as "et al." is used in FSE at the end of sentence to denote "and others".

Kital s'Sonok - T'Pral - Voluk (Written by Sonok, T'Pral, Voluk et al.)


" " REH-DAP (three-spot)

Looks like three dots - one on top, two on the bottom. In TGV and MGV, used as "etc." is used in FSE at the end of sentence.

Bolau mahr-tor Spolk dunaplar - dun - neshuk . (Spolk needs to buy books, paper, ink, etc.)


" " SU'US-SEHTEBIHK (number symbol)

Looks similar to a Latin capital letter "N" with wiggly vertical lines or Hebrew aleph. In MGV, used as the number sign (#). (It is never used in TGV.)

Bolau T'Krel 2 kitau-fek. (T'Krel needs a #2 pencil.)


" ױ " ZEK-SEHTEBIHK (order symbol)

In MGV, used as an ordinal indicator like "nd", "rd", "st" and "th" are used with numbers in FSE, although it is normally limited to handwritten text. (It is never used in TGV.)

Nam-tor Spock 1ױ heh Kirk 2ױ. (Spock is 1st and Kirk is 2nd.)


Additional Notes
Hayaik Pitohlar

1. As stated elsewhere, there is no question mark in Traditional Golic Vulcan. A normal question ends with ek'pehkaya in sentences with or without ha at the end. Also, where you would use a construction like "What in the world are you talking about?!?" in FSE, you'd end the emphatic Golic Vulcan question with dah-pehkaya. For example, >Svi'ahm t'Surak ra..< ("What in Surak's name?!?")

2. No other punctuation or typographic marks exist in "proper" Golic Vulcan. Thus, there are no equivalent symbols for braces ( {} ), the paragraph sign ( ¶ ), the "at" sign ( @ ), etc.

3. Other specialized symbols exist for science and mathematics, of course. Some mathematics symbols are shown on a separate page on our site.

This lesson was put online on
January 3, 2001.
and was updated on
August 24, 2005 and September 30, 2014.




All original work on these pages ©1980-2016 by Mark R. Gardner et al
operating as the Vulcan Language Institute™.

Star Trek and its related characters are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures/CBS Paramount Television.